The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-23
Observation-Disclosures
THE BIRMINGHAM AIR LINE PEO-
PILE IN A QUANDARY.


to Pay-The Great Consolidation
Scheme Falls Through Other
Schemes Working.
The projectors of the Birmingham and
Atlantic Air Line have failed in their eff
forts to effect a consolidation with the Ma
con, La Grange and Birmingham and the
birmingham, Georgia and Florida, and they
are now looking around for another combi-
nation whereby they may maintain them
selves. Should the existing company fail,
there are others now waiting to take hold of
the enterprise and push it through with
money.
The Birmingham and Atlantic started off
some months ago with flourish of trum-
pets 1t represented that it had money
enough to put the scheme through, and that
syndicate of English capitalists was pining
for chance to put up money on it, The
| hackers of this scheme said that they did not
| want money. They were so strong that
they stood behind the corpse Of the Savan-
nah, Dublin and Western and pushed it
forward at such a lively rate that
every enc thought the dead had come to
life. A contract to build the road was given
to Carpenter. Grant, Mundy q Co., who
began grading the Savannah end of the
| line. The contract which Carpenter, Grant,
Mundy d Co. had with the United States
Construction and Improvement Company,
which was the company building the line,
was that the contractors should be paid at
stated times, in cash, and that when twenty
five miles of roadbed should be ready for
the rails, the Construction Company should
furnish the rails for the completion of that
| section of the line.
WHAT WAS TO HAVE BEEN DONE
The construction company, too, was to
have given the contractors the right of way
| into Savannah by June "a last. All of these
| things are embodied in the contract, but
| they have not been lived up to. The con-
tractors notified the construction company
three months ago that twenty-five miles of
| road were ready for the rails, but they have
not yet received a rail- The stipulated pay
mentS have not been met, and the construc-
| ton company is now over $40, 900 in arrears
| to the contractors Instead Of having the
| right of way into Savannah five months
ago the contractors have not got it yet.
They say that they could have had fifty
miles of road in operation by this time, but
the construction company has been an OBJ
struction company
The contractors spent $4,000 in their
plant, and this together with the amount of
work done and not paid for made their in
| terest in the road not a slight one True
they were secured by the bonds of the road
| and they had the railroad indorse their COIL
| tract with the construction company, SO as
to bind them both The contractors at
struction company, but failed to do
so. They saw the application of
the Macon, LaGrange and Birming
ham for a charter, aud MeSsrs Grant q
Carpenter went to Atlanta and defeated
that bill, That saved the chance of building
| the read, and in order to get be-
| hind the scheme sufficient capital to carry it
| through, the contractors engineered the pro
| posed consolidation between the Macon, La
Grange and Birmingham, the Birmingham.
| Georgia and Florida, the Birmingham and
| Atlantic Air Line, and the Savannah, Dub
| lin and Western. The representatives of
the various lines met in Atlanta and arrived
at an agreement according to the articles
| of which the consolidation should be eff
fected, the basis being the representation
made by the Savannah, Dublin and Yves
| tern of what work it had done. A commit
| tee was appointed to go over the line of the
| Savannah, Dublin and Western and see if
| its representations were true.
GOING OVER THE ROAD.
The committee made its trip and while it
was well pleased with the Savannah end
it was very much dissatisfied with the Ma
con Dublin section. The failure of this part
VI Oio Inc W cOAue up 10 bIe f6 presentation
| resulted in the permanent dissolution of the
conference. 1t was to have met first in At
| lanta to receive the committees report but
| no meeting was held there Griffin was
| then appointed as the meeting place but the
| representatives of the lines did not 90 to
| Griffin and the Macon, Lagrange and Biz
mingham and the Birmingham, Georgia
and Florida pulled out and the consolida~
| ton fell through.
| Then the prof ctors of the Birmingham and
| Atlantic came to Savannah and held a long
| conference with the officers of the United
States Construction and Improvement Com
| pany and the directors of the Savannah
| Dublin and Western. The object of this
| conference was to induce Mr.. Branch, of
| Augusta, the President of the construction
| company, to consent to dissolve his COM
| pany and let new one, with money behiud
| 1T, be formed. After meeting, which came
| near breaking up in arrow several times, Mr..
| Branch did consent to the dissolution of the
United States Construction and Improve
ment Company upon certain conditions.
Having Mr.. Branchs consent to the pro-
posed plan, it was thought that the success
of the enterprise was assured, and the meet
ing broke up
Mr.. Robert Langdon, President of the
Savannah, Dublin and Western railway,
went to Philadelphia to arrange certain
matters there, Mr.. Thomas Branch went to
Augusta TO prepare Tor the dissolution OF his
company, and Mr.. w. f. II. Searcy, of the
birmingham and Atlantic, went to Chatta-
nooga and Birmingham to try and bring
bac.i into the fold the two lines which had
withdrawn after the Atlanta conference.
THE NEW YORK CONFERENCE.
These three gentlemen were to meet in
New York a few days later, and there they
were to dissolve the United States Constluc-
ton and Improvement Company and organ
ize the new company. They were then to
adjourn to Savannah and call meeting for
the purpose of electing directors. The New
York meeting did not materialize The
committee could not accomplish the work
expected, and did not go to New York The
result of this was to throw the affairs of the
concern back into their old state, and then
the projectors began looking for another
opportunity to make a profitable com
bination.
Maj. J. A. A. West, the General Manager
of the Birmingham and Atlantic, was seen
yesterday and asked some pointed questions
about the condition, financial and other
wise, of the enterprise. He would not make
any positive replies, but answered only in a
general way He, was asked If the United
States Construction and Improvement Com
pany could pay the claims of the con
tractors. In answer to this he said that the
company was endeavoring to live up to its